SHAMCI and EOS sign the first SHAMCI Cooperation Agreement in the Arab Region

On November 5th 2017, the Solar Heating Arab Mark and Certification Initiative “SHAMCI” Secretariat signed the first co-operation agreement between Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and the Egyptian Organization for Standardization & Quality (EOS). The signing ceremony was held at RCREEE headquarters in Cairo and in the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Egyptian National Cleaner Production Center, EOS and RCREEE.

Under this agreement, EOS obtained the right to award the “SHAMCI” quality certification for solar thermal products within the Arab Republic of Egypt as the certification body responsible for providing quality labels for the industrial goods and products in Egypt. Based on the new cooperation agreement, EOS is the first authority with a license to grant SHAMCI certification in the Arab countries.

This agreement was concluded also to set the rules and the regulations between “SHAMCI” secretariat and EOS as well as to protect the copyrights of “SHAMCI” network that is responsible for managing and implementing “SHAMCI” project in the Arab countries.

The agreement is considered the outcome of a series of ongoing efforts, events, and successes that was witnessed by “SHAMCI” over five years in the Arab region, last of which was the two successive workshops organized last May and July in Egypt and Lebanon consecutively.

The workshops discussed the role and readiness of different national quality institutions concerned such as certification institutions, testing labs, and inspection entities in preparation of the adoption of SHAMCI. In addition, both workshops contributed to the development of work plans developed for the implementation of “SHAMCI” in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Lebanon with the aim of awarding the first SHAMCI label in the Arab region before the end of 2017.

Currently, the SHAMCI secretariat is coordinating with the relevant Egyptian authorities on receiving applications from manufacturers and importers who wish to obtain “SHAMCI” quality label for their products. Facilitations and incentives will be provided to the first applicants for getting the quality label to support the project in its initial stages of implementation.

“SHAMCI” launch was based on the recommendation by 9th meeting of the Arab Ministerial Council of Electricity of the League of Arab States. RCREEE has then initiated the project in cooperation with the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) and SWT to design and develop a quality certification program for solar thermal water heaters in the Arab Region.